The Hallway
by NovelistServant
Summary: Judy and Nick have accomplished many things, and adopting a daughter was one of them. But when she gets into huge trouble, Judy reflects on her life as she paces nervously along the hallway.


Judy paced the soft, green rug that ran through her and Nick's shared hallway as she waited for their shared daughter to come home. Her ears were droopy and her paws twiddled each other and became damp and clammy.

As she paced nervously for the front door of her condo to be opened, she passed many pictures and trinkets throughout the years. Nick didn't see why it was so important to have pictures printed and framed when they could just save it onto their emails, Furbook account, or their new holograms, but Judy wanted to have them mounted and walled to display with pride of the life they built, so the clever fox let his wife carry on with it, smiling with shining green eyes at seeing her light up with joy.

The first picture showed Nick's graduation at the Zootopia Police Academy. It might have taken him a little over 33 years, but he finally found his calling. The amount of pride he felt to not only have his badge, but to have it pinned by the very woman that showed him he could be more than a sly fox, was more than he felt he deserved.

One picture was actually a selfie after they became partners. Nick scraped up enough money to take Judy to see her favorite artist, Gazelle. The look on her face was defiantly worth the price of the tickets and she quickly pulled out her cPhone for a picture in front of the stadium.

The next picture showed another selfie from what Judy strongly argues was the true "first date". After being partners in crime for almost two years, Nick took the rabbit out for a nice dinner, and it wasn't for a birthday or for solving a case.

The "hangouts" turned more and more into "dates" and the bonds grew tighter. Several metals and badges were hung by the pictures, showing just how much the two had done for Zootopia. They certainly were some spine-chilling and tail-spinning stories to tell that were collected from over the years, and told through their voices, and when not that, their hallway.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Nick brought Judy to a little alleyway in the dead of night and her ears were perked up for gang activity, but that was far from the reason they came. A closer look showed that they were right next to Mowlex. Nick didn't waist anytime in case he lost his dinner and got down on one knee and pulled out a little box.

That's when the next picture, a big one, came up of the two in their best in a tight embrace. Six months later the happy couple would be married at the meadows of Bunnyburrow so Nick could get to know Judy's family properly. After only four years, the two were married until death do they part.

Even before they were married, the conversation of kids came up every now and then and they weren't against it, but it just wasn't on their To Do list at the moment. To begin with, they made it very plain that having biological children was out of the question, so if they were to have a desire for a child it would have to be adopted. They were comfortable with the idea, but not so much as for the time; The two decided that they weren't ready to be called "Mommy" and "Daddy" and to simply wait, or possibly not have any children at all.

And so two years flew by since their wedding day and they found themselves living a comfortable life in Zootopia, with an exciting job and a warm home to go back to. They lived in the heart of the giant city, not too far from the ZPD, in a cozy little condo with all the space they could want.

One case was particularly nasty, not hard to crack, but hard to do emotionally. To make the traumatizing story short, Judy was forced to break down a door and crash a car in order to save Nick's life, but when she opened the doors to see who was driving the van, her lavender eyes filled with tears seeing an infant tiger crying in fear, strapped to a seat with his ear cut by a shard of glass, just inches from his head.

Judy snapped herself out of it for the time being as they solved the case, but for days on end, she could never seem to forgive herself for almost killing the child and seeing his mother's face, in a dirty apartment and having no power to control what her father almost made her lose. Judy ate very little and kept to herself and it tore Nick apart to see her so upset.

It took some time, but Judy soon found herself with Nick's help to be able to walk into the ZPD with a true-blue smile and to wave Clawhauser good-morning. It started out small, but then it started to grow. She found herself drawn to children playing together after school on her way home from a slow day at work. Every time she saw a carriage she turned to look some more. Every "coo" sounded like music and every cry sounded like the world's end.

She could nearly hear their own running through the hallway in Daddy's vest or playing in the office, writing a very important letter on Mommy's computer. When shopping she felt a need to buy the smallest cloths right next to the ones that would fit her goddaughter and when buying carrots she caught herself thinking she ought to buy the mooched-up ones, too.

Judy could hide it no more, like it was ever hidden from Nick to begin with, and one night at dinner, she told him that she wanted to adopt. He also admitted into strongly considering it, and they both agreed that they would look into it deeper, but would not make any rash decisions until they were sure it was right for them.

And so Judy found herself going through paperwork and reading parenting books late at night, and Nick peeking at the books at dawn before his wife woke up. They already thought of possible places for the office to go in order to give a baby a room and Nick actually went far enough to go to the Bank and talk about children finances and Judy researched on orphans in Zootopia.

At last, they both gave in and spent a day off at the Zootopia Orphanage for the Gifted Mammals in Sahara Square. The woman behind it all, a goat named Mrs. Keeper, greeted them warmly, and after checking that everything was in order, she had them look around, explaining that everything was organized by age groups and all the children wore grey uniforms, pants for boys, skirts for girls.

Most children were adopted by 13, and the ones that weren't were given the best schooling possible and the responsibility to shepherded the young kids. They had their own living quarters at the very top floor of the building, which was rumored by the other kids to be really nice, but a first look by Judy and Nick told them it was that much better.

And so then traveled to the next age group: 10-13. The preteens proved to be surprisingly quiet, doing either sports outside or drawing, reading, and writing on their bunk-beds. Their hopes seemed low, but that didn't stop them from looking up when the doors opened and smiling at the Wildes. They hated to leave and make them disappointed, but they were used to it and Judy and Nick didn't feel a connection, so they moved on to the next age group.

The 6-9 year olds were happy, jumpy, loud and playful. They played worn-out board games on the cold floor or played ball or jump-rope with smiles and laughter. They were smart and greeted Judy and Nick excitedly, dragging Judy in for some jump-rope and she wowed them all with her skills. They were all wonderful, but there was no connection.

They moved on to the 3-5 year old, the age group that contained potty-trained children and some who could read, to those who were still training and couldn't recognize the Alphabet. They were all so precious and grew particularly close to Nick and his fluffy tail, but… no connection.

That left only the newborns and infants, the 0-2 age group, who proved to be the biggest age group. Before they went into the room, Judy hesitated. Nick had his paw on the doorknob before noticing this and he turned to her.

"Carrots, what's wrong?" He asked as he took a paw.

She turned her head away and closed her eyes in thought. "I'm just… what if we don't find one? What if we walk in, and we walk out with no one?"

Nick stepped closer and Judy finally looked back at her husband. He brought her into a hug and kissed her in between her ears as they embraced each other.

The fox let go and answered, "Then we'll just keep looking. We'll find our missing Wilde. After all, we gotta stick together."

"Like glue." Judy added with a smile and Nick nodded.

Leading the way, he opened the door and held Judy's paw and they two looked to see a room full of cribs, each displaying a male or female symbol and papers giving medical records and their age. A sign by the door told the couple that this was the newborns to 11-months-olds room. A door to their left was labeled as the 1-2 kids' room.

At the back right corner was a half circle of rockers and three of which were full with two volunteers and a 17-year-old orphan lion. The two volunteers, a black-furred bunny and an aardvark, smiled and continuing to feed bottles to the bundles. The lion female smiled and waved as she burped the baby in her arms.

Judy and Nick looked around at the cooing cribs and saw all sorts of babies from all species, male and female, all wearing soft, grey onesies. Judy and Nick separated for a while and looked down at the crates. One fox with green eyes looked up happily at Judy, and she smiled, loving how much he looked like Nick, but she walked on. As she walked by the next crib, it screamed and then changed to a cry.

Judy jumped and turned quickly to see the baby crying. A female raccoon, only nine-months-old, was crying loudly and salty tears traced her dark-brown mask.

The female lion laughed and said, "I don't need to see who that is! I recognize her voice!"

Nick walked over and peered into the loud crib.

Judy said over the crying, "It's a female raccoon."

"Of course it's her!" The black, male rabbit chuckled. "It's always her! She's just a bit of a fussy one, she is. Could you pick her up? See if you can stop her screeching?"

Judy nodded. Growing up with 275+ siblings at home, taking care of infants while Mom and Dad worked on the farm was about as normal as dreaming about making the world a better place. Her gentle paws reached down and seemed to know what to do. She supported her neck and head and picked up the raccoon.

She quieted down to a whimper and looked up at the rabbit and fox. They were strangers to her, but she felt something and was not afraid, but curious. Judy held her so she was close to her chest and could see Nick perfectly. She merely stared, studying them, and they did the same.

It was her that broke the stillness and she raised her arms and opened and closed her hands to grab something. Unconsciously, Nick brought out a paw pointing a single finger and she grabbed it, feeling his soft fur and the warmth from his heart. He put his free hand on his wife's waist and the three watching smiled, knowing they had found their third Wilde.

While they gathered the little things she had, Judy and Nick were left to think of a name for her, for at the orphanage, children were not given names, if they never had one, until they turned one so the parents could pick a name if they want.

They went over many names like Rain, Veronica, Nicole, Bonnie, and even Elizabeth, but they didn't seem to fit. All but one. Victoria. Within minutes, the adoption certificate was filled out and Victoria was given to her new mother and her new father was given a small bag of diapers to last a few days, a blanket, and two spare onsies.

That was 16 years ago. Pictures of her first birthday, her first day of school, family paintings, and middle school graduation showed how much Victory grew up from a fussy toddler into a creative young lady. She proved to be very adaptive, a quick learner, and a bit of a rebel, her father knowing it was the world getting revenge on him.

Victory was an artist, and as pure as one could be. Always achieving high in arts, from acting to painting to sculpting, she always had the scent of spray-paint on her fur and her hands were a new color every day. Her navy-blue hoodie and faded grey jeans were her go-to with her splatter-painted white converse and normally a pair of head-phones around her neck. Victory loved her parents dearly and always knew just how to show it, but she always felt… weighted.

Expected to be a hero like the Wildes and always seen as "Judy and Nick's daughter", she grew irritated and wanted to do something different. She knew her godfather, Grandpa Big, wouldn't mind, but her parents would probably skin her.

One night, her luck ran out. Blue and red lights flashed and she was handcuffed and muffled for good measure, despite never showing her teeth. She called Grandpa Big, but he called Nick. Being the closest to Victory, he went to pick her up from the ZPD and find his daughter guarded by Chief Bogo himself.

The drive was silent. Victory would rather have been in the back of another cop-car than in the front with her father. She wanted Nick to yell at her, but all he did was drive silently, disappointed, and it killed her.

The door clicked open and Judy looked to see Nick and Victory come in, down and disappointed. She ran to her only daughter and hugged her. Victory wished she wouldn't. When Judy let go, she held her by the shoulders and looked at her, demanding without words for an answer to her unasked question.

She didn't have one.


End file.
